Ortiz -- who faces Evans in the UFC
133 headliner on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center in
Philadelphia -- finished Bader with a stunning first-round
guillotine choke in July, securing only the second submission
victory of his career. As a result, Evans has worked tirelessly on
his Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills with trainer Sergio “Babu”
Gasparelli, who has already spent time with Paulo Filho,
Anderson
Silva and the only man ever to defeat Evans, Lyoto
Machida.

Gasparelli watched Ortiz’s submission against Bader and praised his
work, but he does not consider the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” to be
a particularly difficult opponent for Evans, who was originally
scheduled to meet the unbeaten Phil Davis.
After Davis withdrew, Machida was offered a rematch but
declined.

“Those three guys are top fighters without much difference between
them,” Gasparelli told Sherdog.com. “I don’t see Tito as the most
difficult matchup for Evans. Lyoto is coming off a knockout against
[Randy] Couture, wants his belt back and has already defeated
Rashad. And Davis is an annoying fighter who doesn’t move forward
or backwards and has a game that confounds everyone. He isn’t
easily put down and has awesome wrestling.

“Ortiz, on the other hand, is completely predictable and always
comes forward,” he added. “His win over Bader showed how he comes
in to fight, his will to win and how he trained all his positions
with Ricardo ‘Demente’ Abreu. He stepped into fight Evans, and the
fact that they have a draw to clear up gives extra motivation to
both of them.”

Working alongside muay Thai specialist Diogenes Assahyda and Evans’
longtime trainer Mike Van
Arsdale, Gasparelli had a front row seat for the drama and
tumult surrounding the UFC 133 main event. He admits Evans -- who
originally planned to take on former teammate and reigning light
heavyweight champion Jon Jones at
the event -- was disappointed when word of Davis’ withdrawal
reached him.

“I confess we became really worried when it was announced that
Davis was injured,” Gasparelli said. “We thought that no one would
accept the fight. That would have been bad for Rashad and for us,
because he was really enjoying training and was motivated to fight
again after an awesome three months of preparation. It would have
really disappointed us.”

Gasparelli says he was surprised by Evans’ talent on the ground and
believes his rematch with Ortiz could be decided there.

“It’s not always about looking for the submission all the time;
it’s about mixing the art with MMA,” he said. “If you can punch to
open a gap, why not do that? I can’t see a fighter nowadays only
wanting to submit someone. If you have the chance to go for a
knockout, go for it. That’s Evans’ game.”